CHEMISTRY AND ALCHEMY IN THE ARABIAN NIGHTS* C. J. BROCKMAN, UNNERSITY OF GEORGIA, ATHENS, GEORGIA These "Nights," i t seems, are the folklore of the natives of the desert and were collected for the first time about 1200-1300 A.D. in Arabic. There are several Arabic editions extant, each slightly different from the others, although all include more or less the same general tales with varying embellishments. However, the technic of these texts need not be discussed here. The importance of these "Nights" lies in the fact that they will contain science, if there was any science, which had developed up until they were set down in writing and even possibly some additions to the manuscript after their first writing. Therefore, i t must be remembered that they do not deal with the alchemy of the later students but rather with the science which was based directly on the thought of the Greeks which contained very little alchemy. The leading lady, i. e., the storyteller of these tales was Queen Shahrazad, the daughter of a Wazir, who had "perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart: she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments, and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well-bred." I t seems that the word chemistry is derived from the Greek Xupsra or the Arabic "Kimiya" which properly means the substance which transmutes metals and is itself a wet drug used in the preparation of metals for coinage. In the Arabic the word means a coiner of monies. This substance, the philosopher's stone, was not a stone but in all probability a liquid. The stone idea must have developed through the desire for something rigid and permanent, z. e . , a stone which could be handed down from the master to his apprentice. To this word Kimiya the Arabs have prefixed their "Al" to form our present word alchemy. Directions for transmutation are given as follows: "He cut a broken copper platter into bittocks and cast it into a crucible and blew upon the fire with the bellows until the copper became fluid, when the Persian put his hand into his turban and took therefrom a folded paper and opening it, sprinkled thereout into the pot about half a drachm of somewhat like yellow Kohl or eyepowder. Then he bade Hasan blow upon it with the bellows, and he did so till the contents of the crucible became a lump of gold." One-half a drachm of this powder was sufficientto transmute ten pounds of copper into pure virgin gold. Among the synthetic foods which the Arabs were accustomed to using we find cheese,both cream and hard Syrian, and all the tropical fruits of Biblical fame. Fresh butter was set upon a fire, skimmed and kept in a leather bottle for a century-imagine that-it becomes a hard black mass that is * Presented by title at the Spring Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Baltimore, Md., April 10, 1925.
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considered a panacea for wounds and diseases, while a t the same time has enormous powers as a food. The Bedouins drank fermented liquors for the sheer pleasure of intoxication, the Koran notwithstanding. A prohibition drink was melted sugar in rosewater. When intoxication became undesirable the antidote was myrtle which served a dual purpose as a flavoring material for new brandy. The perfumer and druggist and pharmacist did a great business. They had cures for everything although they failed to discover the elixir of life. The drugs were bhang, hashish, henbane, hemp, and myrtle. The native had an adroit and adept method of applying a soporate to his enemy without attracting any undesired attention. Treacle was a cure for the bites of venomous reptiles, etc. Depilatories were considered harmful so that the hair of the axillary region was pulled out rather than shaved off; shaving in those torrid countries caused sores and other troubles. Saffron was the greatest known aphrodisiac and one slave "announted herself with i t till she fainted away from excess of volupty." Concoctions of boiled onions with other vegetables and condiments were almost universally used by all the sons of the desert as a cure for impotence and sterility, the most dreaded indications of the displeasure of Allah. The mystical and the fantastic with all sorts of incantations and "pow-wowings" were always included in the applications of these cures, the results being uniformly successful in all cases. The Bedouin has a peculiar idea of beauty and makes unique demands as to what the women of the tribe shall do to enhance their beauty along the lines that appeal to him. Henna is a color that has a most wonderful attraction for him. To make themselves more appealing the houris and dancing girls colored their finger and toe nails with this dye which must have been a rather weird combination in the light of present day usage. The henna of the Arab was the same as the henna of the present dye industry. When Allah showed Himself to Moses on Sinai through an opening the size of a needle, the Prophet fainted and the Mount took fire; thereupon Allah said, "Henceforth shalt thou and thy seed grind the earth of this mountain and apply i t to your eyes." From this admonition arose the use of Kohl. The Arabic word does not mean a collyrium but means powdered antimony for the eyelids. The powder is kept in an 6tni called Makhalah and is applied when needed with a thick blunt needle to the inside of the eyelid, drawing it along the rim rather than a t the roots of the eyelashes. The aristocracy used Kohl but the poorer classes used a preparation of soot or lamp-black, the color of which may easily be distinguished from that of Kohl. Galena or lead sulfide may also he used.
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Originally the use of Kohl was a protective measure. The great brilliance of the sun in the desert regions of Arabia causes severe attacks of ophthalmia unless some means of protecting the eyes is available. From a necessity it soon spread to a custom especially among the women. "A young lady, fair of form, oval of face, perfect in grace, with eyelids which Kohl-lines enchase." The native women soon learned that the proper application of Kohl to the eyelids gave them a peculiarly languorous appearance that was invaluable to their happiness. The Arabs being dark complected and probably brown eyed, the blackened eyelashes accentuated the size of the eyes so that there was a similarity between the languorous look of the houri and dilation and brilliance of the eye in the case of modem intoxication. It is probably a long jump from the Arabic word Kohl to our present term alcohol. But even the Arabs had prefixed their "Al" making the term Alkohl from which it is not very difficult to trace our word alcohol, the appearance of the eye in each case being very similar. To trace a derivation through the older term "spirit of wine" would be more difficult. Where the modem physician uses an argyrol solution the Arabs "darkened the eyes of a new-born boy with Kohl to prevent inflammation." The mention of glass vessels in the Bible is very unsatisfactory and the translation of some of the original Greek and Hebrew words to the modern idea of glass is sometimes questioned. Whether or not the people of Biblical times knew how to manufacture glass may he left for others to decide, but the Arabs were very adept a t preparing glass vessels for their spirituous liquors. They preferred, however, to keep their drinks in earthen jars. The earthen material was porous and although the liquid did not seep through it rapidly enough to he lost in great quantities, it did seep through in large enough amounts to cool by evaporation the whole vessel, including the liquid inside, to a temperature that made the drink very palatable in so hot a climate. There is much in the "Nights" that is fantastic and mystical hut there is a great amount of information that must be more or less a true statement of what the natives were doing and thinking. In places these Arabian Nights might well be called the popular chemistry of the Arabs. Although they are voluminous to a disappointing degree and by no means a treatise on the chemistry of that age these "Nights" possess a fascination which makes them what is now called "interesting reading."
